Layayoga: The Definitive Guide to the Chakras and Kundalini (83 page)

CHAPTER
12

Location of the Chakras

The sushumna nadi passes through the interior of the vertebral column. The sushumna is not a nerve, a nerve substance, or a material tubular structure; consequently, it is not visualized on dissecting the vertebral column. It is a subtle nadi. The nadis are not wires, but subtle lines of direction of force caused by, and intrinsically associated with, wayu-energy.

Wayu is an energy in a subtle form; it is completely free from particles; it has no mass, no charge, and no interaction with matter. Therefore, it cannot exist in the material field. This does not mean that it cannot exist at all. Matter-energy is a three-cornered phenomenon, in which particles, radiation and light are component factors. So, it is the triangular tejas-energy with which are connected, as its parts, ap-energy involved in the principle of conservation of energy, and kshiti-energy which maintains mass in matter. When the three-cornered energy pattern is transformed into the six-cornered form, mass becomes zero, electrical character disappears, and it is released from matter; instead, it exhibits non-ceasing energy-radiations which form nadis, vitality is infused into it, and it shows creativity by which the living-matter-organization is evolved. Wayu-nadi operates in the subtle nadi-field with super-velocity and causes the appearance of force-motion-lines which are subtle nadis. The presence of such nadis cannot be detected in matter; though a part of the subtle energy, being externalized, penetrates constantly into organized living matter and makes it function as a living body. Moreover, the nadis appear to be steady because of their supervelocity, if one sees them from the material field.

The wayu-energy field is the expansion of more concentrated energy as bindu (point). The bindu tends to release its concentrated energy which expands around it to form a field. This is the evolutionary aspect of wayu-energy. Wayu as concentrated energy is in bindu-form, and its expansion is the wayu-nadi-field. This bindu-and-field phenomenon occurs in all planes. In matter, the atoms are like the bindu and what is around them is their field. Atoms are also the fields of the elementary particles. In living matter, a nucleus is the bindu and the cytoplasm around it is its field. In mind, ahang (I-ness) is the bindu which creates chitta (mental consciousness) as its field.

Wayu-energy as chitra-power concentrates and centralizes to form a petaline bindu, termed chakra or lotus. The chakra-formation occurs throughout the course of the chitrini nadi at certain points. The lower chakras are the specific and detailed manifestations of the more central nirwana chakra situated at the upper end of the chitrini nadi. The sahasrara is the original chakra from which emerges first the nirwana chakra. The sahasrara itself is the field of Supreme Bindu, as an atom is a field of particles on the material plane. Wayu-nadi is the field of wayu in the form of the centralized chitra-power as its bindu.

The chitrini is the prana-force-motion-line which is a white radiation. The chitrini-radiation is enveloped by the vermilion wajra-radiation and the wajra by the deep-red sushumna-radiation. There is a void in the central aspect of the chitrini nadi where there is no radiation. This void has been termed brahmarandhra or brahma-void. It is a potential void, but it becomes brahma nadi when Kundali-power passes through it. There is no possibility of seeing with our eyes the sushumna and its internal radiations wajra and chitrini, and the chakras which are in the chitrini (or by the aid of supersensitive instruments), because they exist and function supramaterially. They are ‘seen’ however in dhyana when consciousness develops the power to reject sensory objects and receive directly subtle objects. The supramaterial field is the deep internal layer which is superimposed by the living-matter substance. In this physical surface layer there are particular positions which correspond approximately to certain vertebral and cranial points. These physical positions are the seats of resonance, caused by the power-radiations from the subtle chakras when they are aroused by thought-concentration done in these positions. The positions of the chakras in the chitrini can only be sensed through the aroused physical positions. But it is not easy to know directly these positions. There is a practical means of approaching these positions through certain vertebral and cranial points with which they are closely related. The determination of the vertebro-cranial points is more easily done through the surface points which approximately correspond to the vertebro-cranial points.

For this purpose, a brief anatomical account of the vertebral column, the cranial cavity and the central nervous system contained therein, may be useful. It may be pointed out here that no attempt has been made to consider the functional significance of the central nervous system, either as a whole or as parts which are disclosed in the anatomical approach. Our object is the linking of the chitrini positions with the physical positions through the vertebro-cranial points as correctly as possible.

The Vertebral Column (Columna vertebralis)

The vertebral column is the central axis of the body, which extends from the base of the skull down to the end of the trunk. It consists of 26 single bones, of which 24 are free vertebrae, and the other 2 are the sacrum and os coccygis. Of the 24 free vertebrae, 7 are in the neck region, and are called the cervical vertebrae; 12 are in the thoracic region, and are called the thoracic vertebrae; and 5 are in the lumbar region, and are called the lumbar vertebrae. The sacrum is composed of 5 fused bones, and the coccyx is formed by the consolidation of 4 or 5 bones. The vertebrae are placed one upon another with discs of fibrocartilage between them, and are held together by ligaments, and strengthened by spinal muscles.

A vertebra consists of an anterior part, termed the body, and a posterior part, termed the vertebral arch. The body and the arch form an opening in a vertebra, termed the vertebral foramen. The foramina, placed one above another, constitute the vertebral canal. The vertebral canal extends from the vertebral foramen of the atlas (the first cervical vertebra) and passes through the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions into the sacral canal formed by the vertebral foramina of the sacral vertebrae. The spinal cord is located within the vertebral canal.

The Cranial Cavity

The cranial cavity is formed by the frontal, occipital, temporal, parietal, sphenoid and ethmoid bones, which are firmly and immovably connected with each other. These bones belong to the skull. The brain is lodged within the cranial cavity. The skull is placed on the atlas.

The Spinal Cord (Medulla spinalis)

The central nervous system consists of two parts: the brain, located within the cranial cavity; and the spinal cord, lying within the vertebral canal. The spinal cord extends from the upper border of the atlas to the lower border of the first, or the upper border of the second, lumbar vertebra.

The central portion of the spinal cord is composed of the grey matter, and the peripheral part is made up of the white matter. The grey matter consists of nerve cells, nerve fibres, and neuroglia. The white matter consists chiefly of medullated nerve fibres. The spinal cord is invested by three membranes which are the continuation of those which envelop the brain. The outer membrane is called the dura mater. There is the extradural space between the wall of the vertebral canal and the dura mater, which contains areolar tissue, fat, and veins. The second coat is made up of arachnoid mater. There is a potential space, called the subdural space, between the dura and the arachnoid, which contains a minute quantity of fluid. The third inner membranous sheath which invests the spinal cord is the pia mater. The subarachnoid space, lying between the arachnoid and the pia, contains the cerebrospinal fluid.

The spinal cord, at its caudal end, tapers to a cone-shaped extremity, termed the conus medullaris. A threadlike structure, termed the filum terminale, emerges from the apex of the conus medullaris and goes downwards into the coccyx.

The Filum Terminale

The conus medullaris is usually considered the true end of the spinal cord, occurring at the level of the first or the second lumbar vertebra. At this point, the conus medullaris continues as a delicate filament, termed the filum terminale, which extends downwards through the vertebral canal into the sacral canal, which is the continuation of the former. Then it leaves the canal and passes into the first or second segment of the coccyx, where perhaps the canal exists in a potential form, and, finally, it becomes attached to the dorsal surface of the coccyx (first or second segment). The filum terminale consists of two parts: the upper part, called the filum terminale internum, which is about 15 cm long and descends from the second (or first) lumbar vertebra to the second sacral vertebra; and the lower part, called the filum terminale externum, which is the continuation of the filum terminale internum, about 8 cm long, and attached to the dorsal surface of the first or second segment of the coccyx at its inferior end.